1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wine making, and more particularly to a novel wine making apparatus and method that facilitates the pressing and fermentation of wine making ingredients in a single tank to produce wine.
2. Description of the Background Art
The art of wine making has traditionally been a lengthy and complicated process. Wine making processes include the crushing of wine grapes, pressing the grapes to separate the grape juice/wine from the grape solids, and fermenting the wine making ingredients. The primary operations used to produce wine result in a lengthy production process requiring transfer of the wine making ingredients between many machines and tanks. The repeated transfer of ingredients and the specialized machines involved make wine production a costly operation in terms of both labor and equipment.
Wine making is a highly specialized art that varies between producers. However, the above-mentioned operations are fairly consistent throughout the wine making field. In the first step of conventional wine production, grapes are loaded into a crusher. The crusher crushes the grapes producing a mixture of grape juice and solids (e.g. grape skins). The crusher is a large perforated cylinder, housing a series of paddles that rotate generally between 600-1200 rpm. The grapes are crushed and both the solid and liquid portions of the grapes exit the crusher. Because of their specialized nature, crushing machines are generally expensive to purchase and maintain.
In the case of white wines, following the crushing operation the crushed grapes must be moved to a pressing machine to separate the liquids and solids. Depending on the application, grape juice can be extracted from the liquid-solid mixture using any combination of the following processes. First, the “free run juice” can be extracted from the liquid-solid mixture by straining. To accomplish this, the crushed grapes are fed into containers having a screened bottom and/or sides, which allows grape juice to exit while retaining the solids in the screened containers. Alternately, the crushed grapes are put into a horizontal “basket press” and the crushed grapes are pressed from both sides. The juice exits the basket press through perforations in the side walls of the press. In another process, a continuous screw press may be used to press the crushed grapes. Yet another type of press utilizes a perforated cylindrical portion that rotates, and an inflatable bladder placed within the cylinder along with the crushed grapes. The bladder is inflated and the crushed grapes are pressed against the rotating cylinder walls forcing the grape juice out of the press.
Fermentation is common to all wine making processes. During fermentation, the grape juice (optionally, the entire grapes) is transferred to a fermentation tank for a number of weeks. When fermentation is done before the pressing operation (typically with red wines) the grape skins float on top of the free run juice/wine. These grape skins must be attended to and stirred several times a day to permit the fermenting grape juice to breathe and remain at an appropriate temperature. After primary fermentation, the wine is pressed as required.
Many of the machines used to make wine are expensive and difficult to maintain. Straining is an inexpensive alternative to the other pressing devices (e.g., the continuous screw press, the bladder press, the basket press, etc.), however the strainer would often clog and require constant attention from workers. Additionally, the present methods employed to produce wine require transferring the crushed grapes between many different machines and tanks, resulting in a high cost of labor and increased chance of contamination.
What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus and method that reduces the variety of equipment required to make wine. What is also needed is an apparatus and method that reduces the number of times that the wine making ingredients must be transferred between various machines and or tanks. What is also needed is an apparatus and method that cost-effectively simplifies wine production.